Diary of an Ordinary Van

[Vee4]

It's a winner ...

and the pylon is not bad either.



Today, RIBA announced the winning design in their pylon competition. Interesting to note that the Silhouette design has also been chosen by National Grid for further consideration.

[transitandy]

I was listening to radio 2 the other day and they were banging on about pylons and it turns out there's a pylon spotters society so now there is a few more of us at least

[Vee4]

There were some news items around the RIBA competition results. I heard about it on Radio 4.

The pylon links have been mentioned before in this column:

Pylon of the Month
The Pylon Appreciation Society

[transitandy]

many thanks for the links

[Vee4]

They nicked my design!

Regular readers will remember my December 2009 description of the TomTom holder I made, originally for the Mk5:



It turned out to work well in the Ordinary Van (Mk7 for the benefit of new readers) too:



While shopping for kitchen gadgets, I noticed this Nav-Mat 2 on the Lakeland website:



Although it is priced at GBP22.99 you can at least put it on your Christmas List without having to wait for me to make one, which would involve a long wait for sure.

[ake]

You should've had a patent on that

[Vee4]

25 Years of the M25



Love it or hate it, the M25 has been fully open for 25 years. Love it at 0300 when it's just you and some trucks. Hate it at 1730 on a Friday when you're trying to reach an emergency call-out. The Ordinary Van and all of its predecessors (see 'sig' below) have been on the M25 since construction began in 1973.

It seems like only yesterday and it seems like it's always been there. Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher officially opened the M25 on 29 October 1986, with a ribbon cutting ceremony in the section between J22 and J23 (London Colney and South Mimms).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M25_motorway
http://www.highways.gov.uk/roads/18111.aspx

[transitandy]

Ah yes the wonderfull m25 how did we manage before without it

[Vee4]

Shedding some light *

Phew! It's been busy and not even enough time to write up the Diary. I've had my head down, and the Ordinary Van has been a willin' helper.

During the usual pre-flight checks for a long night-time journey I found that a headlamp had failed and since one of the Ordinary Van's pet peeves is the number of illegally lit vehicles driving around, it had to be changed immediately.

Top Three lighting defects:


• Failed dip-beam headlamp
• Fog lights on when not foggy
• Failed brake lamp

As it happens, the headlamp failure was on the stage-right side, so changing it was relatively easy. As I'm sure is the case with all new Mk7 owners, I read the handbook from cover to cover on delivery, and one thing I noted was that the official procedure for lamp replacement in the headlamp cluster involved removal of the complete assembly. That struck me as odd because headlamps used to be made in such a way that the lamp replacement was easy, and often tools were unnecessary.

The approach will depend on options fitted but with the Ordinary Van being quite ordinary, access to the right headlamp is easy enough and there's even a place to wedge your torch when working in the dark. However, since the failure of one headlamp meant that the other should also be replaced, I decided to rehearse the full procedure at a time of my choosing - when it was warm and sunny. I offer the following guide so that Mk7 owners will be able to memorise it and thus be able replace their headlamps on a dark night when snow is falling.

Mk7 headlamp replacement


• A Torx T30 driver is required
  
  
  
  
• To disconnect, press the small latch on the top
  
  
  
  
• To remove, lift slightly and push forward
  
  
  
  
• Unclip the cover for access to the headlamp
  
  
  
  
• Reassembly is simply a reversal of disassembly - to coin a phrase. Beam alignment is OK after changing both lamps although the pattern is slightly different.

I used Osram 64193 as replacements.



Osram offer an 'ultra life' version which I may look for next time replacement is necessary.

How's about that then, guys and gals? Sir Jimmy Savile 1926-2011.

* If you can't decide whether light is a wave or a particle, I'll refer you to the Wikipedia article on Light!

[Vee4]

It's not just me

The Ordinary Van has been so busy that there's been no time to spare for writing up the Diary, but by the same token, it wouldn't have made interesting reading. Just being ordinary ...

The Pylon of the Month author has been having the same problem by the look of it. There was no October Pylon and the November Pylon is one we've seen before. I do think it looks better with the Transit added (a Transit improves any outlook doesn't it?):



More soon ...

[Altransit]

Keep motoring ................. and drive safe

[Vee4]

In the Bleak Midwinter

It's become traditional for the Diary to feature a poetic introduction to winter. We've had Burns and Keats but this year I was reminded of Christina Rossetti by a recent programme in the BBC's excellent 'In Our Time' series.

"In the bleak midwinter, frosty wind made moan,
Earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone;
Snow had fallen, snow on snow, snow on snow,
In the bleak midwinter, long ago."

This was the first morning of the season on which the Quickclear was needed to clear frost from the Ordinary Van's windscreen. For early December the weather hasn't been all that bleak, following an unusually warm and dry November. However, we could think of Rossetti's verse as a metaphor for the bleak economic situation. The poem is now well known as a carol, sung at Christmas, after being set to music by Gustav Holst and others. Often in such cases, the lyricist is forgotten, the words being thought of as 'traditional'.



Rossetti is from a generation after the Romantic poets, and is associated with the pre-Raphaelites. She is a contemporary of Emily Dickinson (both were born in December 1830) and has a similar reputation for rather gloomy verse. Keep Rossetti in mind if you have to make a funeral oration, since she may be able put your thoughts into words. Song is often used as an epitaph.

Further reading:


• Full text of In the Bleak Midwinter
  
• Biography and more poems on the Poets' Graves site

I'm off to cheer myself up with some Leonard Cohen records ...

[Altransit]

Will there be any more pre-Christmas diary entries

[Vee4]

It's been a funny old year and we're not out of the woods yet. I have been working all the time, with faultless backup from the Ordinary Van, and there has been time for little else. However, Transit Towers is geared up for a big celebration this holiday time - the recent transformation will allow for any number of illustrious guest stars to be invited at short notice, so watch this space.

I've just been listening to the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols from King's College to remind myself that it's supposed to be Christmas. The young chorister opening the proceedings did extremely well - the first verse of Once in Royal David's City 'a cappella' to a world-wide audience of millions, so no pressure. Interesting to note that they are including a new setting of Christina Rossetti's Christmas Eve by Tansy Davies.

Anyway, look out for the celebration, and no doubt there will be yet another Review of the Year.

Thanks to all Diary readers for contributions and suggestions, and most importantly, for reading it! In particular, I'd like to thank my editor-in-chief, Altransit, and the other Moderators and Administrators for keeping the whole thing going. A little bit of sycophancy goes a long way.

Merry Christmas to all our readers and here's hoping for a Prosperous New Year!



The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

From Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening by Robert Frost

[Vee4]

The party that keeps on giving! *

The clue was very obscure, except perhaps to local residents and I'm not sure how many read the Diary - there will be a few more now. Here is the solution to the puzzle:





It took me ages to find the exact spot on Google Maps. The key is the more modern building on the right by the side of the Shleppers truck, which looks much the same now as it did in 1963 (the building that is, not the truck). I should have known that someone had already done it and done it better. To find out how, see Bob Egan's excellent project Grammercy Park Revisited - My Search for Bob Dylan Album Cover Locations in New York City.

The search was inspired by reading an obituary of Suze Rotolo. Suze Rotolo was pictured with Dylan on the iconic Freewheelin' album cover, as they walked through a wintry Greenwich Village. She wrote a memoir, A Freewheelin' Time. Evocative of those days in the early sixties, it is recommended reading even if you are not a particular Dylan fan.

"Get on with it," I hear you say ...

Greenwich Village in the post-war years was a meeting place for many of the bohemian types and artists who defined the art of the late twentieth century, beginning with the jazz greats (see Village Vanguard), the Beat Generation writers, the folk singers (see Gerdes Folk City for a partial list) and following later in their footsteps, Jimi Hendrix with Electric Lady Studios, Janis Joplin, Joni Mitchell, Leonard Cohen and many others ...

With this in mind, it occurred that Transit Towers could be transformed into the Greenwich Village of the sixties, and any of the entertainers listed could join the celebrations without having to travel too far in the Tourneo (left-hand drive) courtesy bus - just up to the Chelsea Hotel (I remember you well in the Chelsea Hotel ...) probably.



Anyway, please don't lean too hard on the walls, because they are built like a western movie set with painted (scenery) flats to represent the streets. Manhattan had its first parking meters in 1951 and its first 'meter maids' in 1960, but there are no parking restrictions for Transits, even on 'alternate side parking' days. 'Split windscreen' VW vans will also be allowed, in case that happened to be your van in the original photograph!

Tonight's Attraction is Woody Allen, who in 1961, is just starting his career as a standup comic. With luck, he will give us his favorite (sic) monologues: The Moose and Eggs Benedict.

These sketches can be heard on the Rhino CD, Titanic, now celebrating the centenary of its maiden voyage. I hear it's very fast, and there's a good band and some deck chairs.


* No, it's not a political party.